Grateful Dead Road Trips Vol. 2 No. 3—Wall of Sound (2-CD Set)

Dead chronicler Dennis McNally's liner notes to this Road Trip are a must-read, succinctly expounding upon how Bear's vision of creating a sound system free of distortion morphed into a 641-speaker monster (there's a great picture of it inside the booklet) that required three trucks to transport and five hours to set up, almost bankrupting the band and causing them to retire from the road for almost two years. But it was truly a singular sonic achievement, one that, as McNally puts it, 'allowed the band to go places they'd only dreamed of.' The two shows excerpted on this 2-CD set, 6/16/74 at the State Fairgrounds in Des Moines and 6/18/74 at Freedom Hall in Louisville, beautifully illustrate the point: with a PA this loud, the band could play softer, freeing them to mesh ever more subtly and intricately. The Des Moines 'Eyes of the World' is simply definitive, and the Louisville medley of 'Weather Report Suite'/'Jam'/'The Other One'/'It's a Sin Jam'/'Stella Blue' is one-of-a-kind. This Trip's a treasure'first time ever available at regular music retail!

Disc One

1. China Cat Sunflower
2. I Know You Rider
3. The Race Is On
4. Eyes of the World
5. Big River
6. U.S. Blues
7. Playing in the Band

Disc Two

1. Loose Lucy
2. Eyes of the World
3. China Doll
4. Weather Report Suite:
Prelude
Part 1
Let It Grow
5. Jam
6. The Other One
7. It’s a Sin Jam
8. Stella Blue